Backlash: Neighbours in uproar as Stockport pub turns into bondage club
Backlash: Neighbours in uproar as Stockport pub turns into bondage club
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https://teakdoor.com/images/smilies1/You_Rock_Emoticon.gif Reopened: The Rifle Volunteer is now operating as bondage club The Slave Academy
A pub has secretly reopened as a bondage club – and town hall chiefs are powerless to shut it down.
The Rifle Volunteer in Stockport is at the end of a quiet block of terraced homes just yards from a park. From the outside it still looks like a pub – but inside it is a thriving fetish establishment which boasts on the internet of offering ‘mistress worship’, ‘punishments’ and ‘the finest dominatrix in Manchester’.
Neighbours are demanding the club be closed. But the council say the change to bondage club did NOT need planning permission.
Police have also visited the premises on Carrington Road, and say there is no evidence of any illegal activity.
Mum Katie Stringer, 31, who lives on the street, said: "I don’t like something like that in the neighbourhood and it’s not something you want at the end of your road. It would be good to see it closed."
Another neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: "I have lived around here for 20 years. It doesn’t reflect well on the area and I would like to see it shut down."
Labour councillor Philip Harding said: "Considering this site is close to houses and the road is used by schoolchildren one would have considered this to be a totally unsuitable place to have such an establishment."
The pub, near Vernon Park, has been derelict since it closed in 2000. It was sold six years ago.
Now it has emerged that, since last year, it has been operating as The Slave Academy – a bondage club that takes bookings on the internet before directing clients to the building.
The operators of the club were unavailable for comment.
But ‘Mistress Valeska’, one of the women who works there, told the M.E.N: "This is a fetish academy and there is no sex involved. For me it’s more like my hobby.
"When I first came here this building was knee deep in used syringes and filth and I have given it a new lease of life. I don’t feel I am doing anything wrong and am proud of what I have done. I don’t break any laws and I don’t rip people off."
A leaked letter from senior council planning officer Dave Westhead confirmed the town hall was aware of what was happening but had no legal power to act. He said the fact bondage clubs did not fall into any official planning category meant there was no automatic requirement to seek planning permission.
The only relevant question, he said, were whether it had caused an increase in noise or traffic – but not ‘people’s perception of the morality of particular use’.
He wrote: "At this time, therefore, the council is satisfied that the current use of the premises does not have an adverse effect on the amenity of the local area.
"As such the current use is lawful and does not require the submission of a planning application to the council."
A spokesman for Stockport council said: "If there are concerns regarding activities at the premises, we work closely with other agencies, including the police, to investigate and take action."
Land Registry records show that the building is currently owned by Rancourt Limited, a London-based management company. A spokeswoman confirmed it was the landlord but refused to comment further.
